Elizabeth Nolan Brown and Scott Winship: Governments Can't Increase Birthrates. They Shouldn't Even Try.

This is the audio version of The Reason Livestream that takes place every Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern.

The topic this week was whether falling birthrates in the United States and other countries are a bad thing that governments should try to reverse. My guests were Reason Senior Editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown, whose June cover story is "Storks Don't Take Orders From the State," and Scott Winship, who runs the American Enterprise Institute's Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility and has written widely on the myths and realities about economic and cultural decline.

We talk about whether past government policies have proven effective in changing birthrates, whether the state should be involved in such decisions from a moral perspective, and why the right and left are increasingly committed to pro-natalist policies.

Today's sponsors:

• The Soho Forum. Reason is proud to sponsor The Soho Forum, a monthly, Oxford-style debate held in New York City on topics of special interest to libertarians. The next one is on Monday, May 22, and features Andrew Koppelman and Gene Epstein debating the proposition, "Libertarianism has been thoroughly corrupted by delusion, greed, and disdain for the weak." For more information and to buy tickets, go here.

• The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a live, unscripted, monthly event that doubles as a taping of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie podcast. The next one is on Monday, June 5, and Nick Gillespie will talk with Fox News contributor Kat Timpf about her best-selling book, You Can't Joke About That. Tickets are $10 and include beer, wine, soda, and food. For details and to buy tickets, go here.

The post Elizabeth Nolan Brown and Scott Winship: Governments Can't Increase Birthrates. They Shouldn't Even Try. appeared first on Reason.com.